Celiac Disease: Cause, Effect, and Mitigation

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Preparing a meal for adult women with celiac disease as well as a fish/shellfish allergies can a unique challenge. Gluten as well as seafood most be avoided in the diet, with some special dietary needs on top of that of a regular adult women. In the following a short description of what each celiac disease and fish/shellfish allergies are, how common they are, causes, diagnosis, treatment, and special dietary needs will be explained. Preceding this information an example of a two course meal will be laid out to provide an example of a meal holding in the restraints of the special dietary needs of this person.

Celiac Disease

What is celiac disease?

Celiac disease is the auto-immune disease which causes the body’s immune system to attack itself when foods containing gluten is present.

How common is the disease?

The disease, which is also known as coeliac disease, is a common digestive condition. Before the advances in testing for celiac disease, the disease was thought to be rare. It however, is now known to be a common condition that affects approximately 1 in every 100 people in the UK in people of all age groups (Coeliac Disease – NHS, April 2010). Women are much more likely to develop the disease than men; being two to three times more likely.

It is however, sometimes hard to diagnose celiac disease. Some carriers of the disease do not cause any noticeable symptoms, or it causes very mild symptoms. Due to this it is thought that at minimum 50% to as high as 90% of cases of celiac disease are either undiagnosed or misdiagnosed as other digestive conditions (Coeliac Disease – NHS, April 2010).

What is gluten?

Gluten is a protein that can be found in products containing wheat, barley, and rye. This means that foods...

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..., D. (2011, March 9). New Treatment for Celiac Disease?. WebMD - Better information. Better health.. Retrieved March 9, 2012, from http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/celiac-disease/news/20110208/new-treatment-for-celiac-disease

Seafood Allergies Common for Adults. (n.d.). WebMD - Better information. Better health.. Retrieved March 4, 2012, from http://www.webmd.com/allergies/news/20040713/seafood-allergies-common-adults

Seafood Allergy, Shellfish Allergy and Fish Allergy. (n.d.). Allergy UK - Helpline and advice for sufferers of Allergy, Asthma, Hayfever, Food Intolerances & Chemical Sensitivity. Retrieved March 4, 2012, from http://www.allergyuk.org/fs_seafood.aspx

Shellfish allergy: Tests and diagnosis - MayoClinic.com. (n.d.). Mayo Clinic. Retrieved March 1, 2012, from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/shellfish-allergy/DS00987/DSECTION=tests-and-diagnosis

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